Posted on 07/12/2008 12:37:30 PM PDT by The Duke
Please pardon this "original material" vanity posting, however all the talk this Saturday morning (and previously) of re-imposing a nationwide 55 MPH speed limit has motivied me to take up the keyboard to make an important point that seems to be being missed in this debate. That point is that imposing such a limit inherently places a value on peoples' time.
Let's do the math. Since both sides have been claiming that this speed limit will result in fuel savings of 2% from traveling at 70 MPH, then let's do the math using those numbers. We'll also use a vehicle that gets 25 miles per gallon, and consider a trip of 100 miles.
If I'm traveling 100 miles at 70 miles per hour, then I'm going to arrive at my destination in 1.43 hours (100/70). If I travel the same distance at 55 MPH then I'm going to get there in 1.82 hours (100/55). The additoinal time to arrive at my destination is 1.82 - 1.43 hours = 24 minutes.
Now, if I'm paying $4/gallon for fuel and getting 25 miles per gallon, then the trip is going to cost me $16 dollars. A two percent savings of that is exactly thirty-two cents.
So, if I'm in favor of reducing the speed limit from 70 MPH to 55 MPH then I'm saying I would be willing to lose right at a third of an hour in exchange for right at a third of a dollar. In other words, my time is worth no more to me than a dollar an hour!
The reality is that this ridiculous 55 MPH speed limit idea isn't about saving fuel or money - it's about asserting control. There are those in our society - mainly those who have gravitated towards politics - who derive their sense of fulfillment by seeing others obey their dictates.
Several years ago when Al (never-met-a-tree-he-didn't-hug) Gore had the floodgates for a river opened just so he could have his picture taken in a canoe, he wasted an amount of water equal to the savings realized by the entire nation's use of low-flow toilets for TWO YEARS. Do you think this clown really cared about the environment? Of course not, the perfumed prince simply got off on the thought that he could force an entire nation to start flushing twice.
The next time you're on the Interstate conduct a little test and slow down to 55, and just get a preview of what the liberal clowns have in store for us all. While you're at it, you might as well bump up the thermostat in your home by a few degrees. Maybe, just maybe, you'll then be motivated to make your own feelings heard by our poltiical "leaders".
My daily commute on my Civic gets me 41.44 miles per gallon driving at 80mph. I haven’t tried to see how that averages out if I was going at 65mph, but I don’t think It would change that much. But the time I save is definitely worth any fuel savings I would get at 65mph, but that’s just me.
Yep, you got that right! I lost a lot of respect for him today.........
I live in AZ. Double-nickel would suck for me if I want to go visit my wife’s family in SOCAL.
But not to do what's unnecessary, just to give our Betters the thrill of virtue imposed....
Incidentally, we aren't at war. We aren't at peace, either, but war is a heck of a lot more serious business than whatever it is the government's doing now.
Double-nickel would suck for me
Expressway traffic where 55 would be the rule is now a rarity for me since I am retired. However, when I was working back in 2006, rush hour traffic seldom reached the posted 70 limit due to traffic volume.
Folks traveling from here in S.E. Michigan to the northern Michigan areas would be severely affected if the speed limit were reduced from 70 to 55 only because the state police would be out in force.............
As I said in a previous post, the only conditions contributing to an increase in highway fatalities on our interstates are winter conditions, not 70 mph + speeds........
Cars have gotten steadily more crash worthy. Highways have been better and better designed, including redesign of highway barriers. As a result, the crashes per 100,000 miles have gone down. Still....
The higher the speed that an accident occurs, the higher the death and injury per accident. This is a matter of physics. The energy expended as the cars crunch to a stop, is a product of the weight of the cars and the square of the speed.
Having seen members of my family to their graves due to the combination of alcohol and cars, fifty-three years apart, I react strongly to statements about death rates from auto accidents that do not match the facts.
In terms of death per passenger mile, automobiles are the worst, trains are the least. For decades ago, I worked with transportation planners. Forms of transportation are partially price-elastic. They are also time-elastic.
I would vigorously resist the government TELLING anyone that they MUST use / not use a particular form of transportation. On the other hand, I do believe that scarce public dollars should be used in ways that encourage people to make their own choices in ways that benefit the public, especially in urban areas where both land and money are scarce commodities.
I remember a speech I read about, nearly half a century ago. An urban designer said of Los Angeles, “I've seen the future, and it doesn't work.” IIRC, one-third of all the land in Los Angeles was devoted to moving, storing, and feeding private automobiles. That is simply not a workable arrangement for any urban area, anywhere in the world, not just in the US.
John / Billybob
Neither are people that tell me to use alternative means of transportation. Please feel free to use those means of transportation mentioned.
“I’ll go to the mat to prevent another national speed limit.”
Seriously, few things in this world will piss me off more than some busy body politician making me drive 55 MPH. My time is worth way more than the small bit of gas it will save me—if I were to follow the law, which I won’t.
I'd be willing to start a war with the idiots who want a 55 MPH speed limit.
“That being the case, I have a bold proposition for Senator Warner: Lower all freeway speed limits to 15 MPH. Millions, heck hundreds of millions lives saved. Problem solved. I’ll take my Nobel peace prize now...”
I have an idea for him too, resign your office.
If the donkeys impose this on Americans...it’s going to make a lot of people mad. Then you’ve got the expense of each state having to again change speed limit signs. This is just another really stupid idea by those that think government has all the answers. A very very stupid time to even mention this especially in an election year.
“DON’T PREACH TO ME ABOUT 55 MPH GAS CONSUMPTION VS. 70 MPH GAS CONSUMPTION! I’VE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE AND IT WAS BULLSHIT THEN JUST AS ITS BULLSHIT NOW..........”
Right on man. I just can’t believe anyone would be so stupid as to even suggest 55. But I think it will go through. I think the majority of American’s don’t care enough to stop it.
There was, at least (maybe still, I don’t know), a FReeper running for a Rep seat in NC who’s promoting this absurd speed limit.
You have got to be kidding me? I what the name of his opponent? I’ll send him some money. We must stop and dick head who is trying to put through a 55 MPH speed limit. By any means necessary.
Read the thread. Who’s everybody PO’ed at?
So, what's the growin' season for peanuts in Georgia?
That point is that imposing such a limit inherently places a value on peoples’ time.
Have YOu ever SEEN the tax code?
“The higher the speed that an accident occurs, the higher the death and injury per accident.”
I agree with you, physics shows the amount of damage increases as speed increases. However, I don’t think the facts have shown that there were less accidents during the 55 MPH era, than currently. One thing that hasn’t been brought up is that by driving 55 MPH, it takes longer to get places, which means longer time spent in the car. You have a greater chance of being maimed or killed when you are a car, than any other time, regardless of what speed you are driving. I think one of the reasons the accident rate would not decline under a national 55 MPH limit is there would be more cars on the road. The more time you spend on the road, the greater your chances of being in a wreck.
TRILLIONS of dollars of debt are due primarily to unconstitutional social spending, not spending on our military protecting our national interests (which is one of the few legitimate functions of the government).
Scarce my ass...governments are flush with my dollars via taxes.
You're really getting into the politician mode aren't you.
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